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Phish’s Halloween Costume Will Return at Festival 8

Festival 8, Phishs three-day Halloween event, will take place at Indio,CAs Empire Polo Field from October 30-November 1. The group is expected to perform eight sets of music during the three-day event: two sets on Friday and three sets on both Saturday and Sunday. Indio, CAs Empire Polo Field also hosts the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals each spring. Festival 8 is indeed Phish’s eighth multi-day, destination music festival.

Building on the flash pages the group has used to announce each of its reunion runs since the fall, the events location was slowly revealed through a series of animated vignettes that narrowed in on California (though many Phish.com visitors were caught of guard when California disappeared off the map a few weeks ago).
The Vermont Quartet has not performed on Halloween since 1998 when the band covered the Velvet Undergrounds Loaded in its entirety. Phish has also covered The Beatles White Album, The Whos Quadrophenia and Talking Heads Remain In Light on Halloween. Both the White Album and Quadrophenia were selected by fans through a poll, while the members of the group chose Remain In Light and Loaded on their own. In a 2003 interview with Relix, Trey Anastasio pointed to Bob Dylan and The Bands The Basement Tapes and Brian Enos Another Green World as possible Halloween covers. Phish will once again don a musical costume at Festival 8.
Festival 8 marks the first time Phish has hosted its own festival on the West Coast and only the second time the group has staged a multi-day festival outside the summer months. The groups other large scale festivals include: The Clifford Ball (1996), The Great Went (1997), Lemonwheel (1998), Camp Oswego (1999), Big Cypress (1999), IT (2003) and Coventry (2004). On-Site camping will be available.